


A Year

by prepare4trouble



Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU, Angst, Episode: s02e22 All Hell Breaks Loose, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-05-31
Updated: 2007-05-31
Packaged: 2017-10-31 16:53:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/346347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prepare4trouble/pseuds/prepare4trouble
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Demons lie and cheat, why would the crossroad demon be an exception?</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Year

He wondered if he had done the right thing. For all of two seconds, he wondered whether he had made the wrong decision, whether he should have just buried his brother and found a hole somewhere to curl up and die himself. For those couple of seconds, he thought that maybe it hadn't been worth it, and he hated himself for that.

He raised the bottle to his lips and took another swig, wincing at the taste. The memory of Sam's body laying there on the bed, taunting him with its emptiness, haunted him. The voice of the crossroad demon tormented his dreams.

_“Should have been more specific.”_

_“You cheated me,”_

_She shook her head and smiled, “I said I'd bring your brother back. I said you'd have a year. Did I tell you how long he'd have?”_

And now he was alone again. No more deals, no more hope, just solitude and despair.

_“I'll give you anything. Anything you want, just take it”_

_“I already have your soul, Dean. What else do you have to give?”_

And that was the question, wasn't it. What did he have? Everything that was his had been taken from him, or he had given away.

 

Sam had cried when he found out what Dean had done. Not straight away, but as soon as they were alone. Through the tears, he had shouted in rage at his brother, tried to punch him and at the last second hit the wall. Dean had just sat there, let him. He didn't matter, it was all about Sam. The deal he made meant that Sam would live, and compared to that, his own life was a fair price. Sam didn't understand that. Of course he didn't. But Sam was safe, and that was all that mattered.

_“Poor Dean, so trusting even everything you've seen. All you needed to do was say Sammy had to stay alive.” She reached out and brushed the tears from his cheek before he could flinch back, “Too bad you didn't think of it.”_

The argument had lasted for days, and even afterwards things never went back to how they had been. Sam had scoured book after book, called contact after contact and come up blank every time. And then crossing the road from the library, he had been hit by a car. And at the exact moment, sitting in their motel waiting for him, Dean was sure he heard a woman laughing.

_“A year with Sam. That's what it was meant to be.”_

_“I said you'd get a year. That's all.”_

_“This wasn't the deal, damnit! You broke your word!”_

_She shrugged, “Technically, I didn't. But tell me something. Indulge me for a second. If the deal was null and void and you could live a full, long life. Would you do it?”_

_He hesitated. A lifetime to hunt, to make sure no one else's lives got messed up the way his had. A lifetime to kill every evil son of a bitch that had ever so much as thought about killing anyone else's family. A lifetime to drink, to fuck, to live. A lifetime without Sammy._

_He shook his head, “No,”_

_The demon smiled and reached out to touch him again and he flinched back, “Then enjoy your last night. I'll come for you tomorrow.”_

He finished his bottle with a final swig and went outside to watch the sunrise.


End file.
